The Portland daily press., 1887-07-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS

The first series of essays entitled 0biter
Dicta, by an English author, whose name on
the title page is Augustine Burrell, was pub
hshed year or more ago, ana was greeted
with such a CHEEKY welcome that the author
mas 1 eeSen encouraged to give us a second Sc
-(Ies containing Milton. Pope, johnson,
Burke. The Muse OF History, Charles Lamb,
Emerson, the Office Of Literature, Wom Out
Types, Cambridge and the Poets, and Book
Buying-all compressed into 16mo volume
of 300 pages. We have seen the greater
number of these essays in the magazines
from time to time, the author saying in his
preface: 1.-THE first two papers are here
printed for the first time; the others have
been so treated before, and now reappear,
pulled about a little with the kind perms-
sion of the proper parties" But we are glad
to have them in book form, and find the re-
printed ones none the less enjoyable for hay
ing been read before. Without undertaking
to 20 through these brief essays in detail,
let us say that we are gratified at the stand
he takes respecting DR.. Johnson, study of
whom he believes to be essential to the Eng
fish student. OF Pope he says HE took
p"aho w wv npiVhdtA- pOuouGO anu
pruned. His first draft never reached the
prnter-though he sometimes said it did
This ought, think, to endear him to us in
these hasty days, when authors high and
low think nothing Of emptying the Stops of
their minds over their readers, without so
much as cry of Heads below" This ex-
tract gives some idea of the authors treat
ment of his subjects and his general style.
He is bright, witty, humorous and schol-
arly. New York; Charles Scribner's Sons !;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony
An original copy of Lucy Crawford's His
tory of the White Mountains, is of such ex-
IRENE rarity, that sound, clean copy sells
for ten dollars, and it is only when some IL
brary of rare books falls under the hammer
of the auctioneer, that a copy can be OBJ
obtained. The demand has fl nally become
so great, and the supply so small, that Mr..
IL. w. Ripley has reprinted the book entire.
and verbatim, with the exception of needful
corrections of typographical errors, which
defaced her old edition. The book before us
gives most interesting and altogether
truthful account of the hardships and trials
of the pioneer settlers in the White Noun
tain regions, written by Lucy, the faithful
wife of Abiel Crawford, the hero of many
adventures in the early history of this TO-
mantle portion of New Hampshire. The
perusal of her simple stories of the rude life
In the wilderness, carries one back in spirit
to the time in which she lived, and forget
ting his day and generation, one can for
while revel in the free life which was the de-
light OF these honest and heroic people. The
books printed in Brown Thurston's excel
lent style, and admirably illustrated, be-
sides which, Mr.. Ripley has introduced at
the end some interesting matter, and several
very readable poems on those majestic
mountains, which the Indians regarded with
so much awe and pointed to as their future
home. Mr.. Ripley has done the public a
service in reprinting this valuable history
which so delighted our forefathers, and will
undoubtedly find it in great demand
The Obelisk and Its Voices, or The Inner
Facings of The Washington Monument with
Their Lessons. by Henry B. Darlington, u
S. A., is curious volume. The writer hay
ing explored the interior of Washington
Monument has written poem about it, with
which he has interviewer the inscriptions
upon the memorial bronze, marbles and tab
lets, the history of the obelsk the fac smile
of Washington's closing account with the
government and various other matters of
history connected with that period. There
are two excellent portraits Of Washington,
and altogether the little book forms pleas
ant historical memento; although we do not
quite see why Mr.. Darlington found it neces-
sary to drop into poetry" Boston: Lee &
Shepard; Portland; Loring, Short & Har-
mon.)